Pretenders

Viva El Amor

When the organizers of the Lilith Fair got sick and tired of hearing their event was too mellow, they turned to the right band to shake things up.

Enter the Pretenders. The group has always had a tough-as-nails attitude, one that's balanced by the sultry cool presence of the great Pretender Chrissie Hynde.

The group's first new studio set since 1994's Last of the Independents is a rock-solid return to form, loaded with first-rate fare such as the harp-wailing taunt “Popstar,” the gutsy ballad “One More Time”, and the revealing “Human”, all of which feature some of Hynde's finest vocals ever.

Thankfully, she's lost none of her acerbic side either. Hynde wrote 10 of the disc's 12 cuts. And when she sings “Why did you send me roses?/Save it for someone's death”, in the hook-filled “Baby's Breath,” there is no mistaking the far-from-flowery intent.